1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side frame reinforcement structure for a vehicle, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a side frame reinforcement structure for a vehicle, which increases rigidity of a welding portion where a cowl dash panel and a side frame forming a side of the vehicle are coupled with each other, thereby minimizing, upon collision, deformation of the side frame and the cowl dash panel and ensuring safety of a passenger.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, between an engine room which is defined at a front part of a vehicle and a passenger compartment, there is disposed a cowl dash panel. A pair of side frames which are respectively located at both front sides of the vehicle, are welded to both left and right ends of the cowl dash panel, respectively.
However, in the conventional art, as can be readily seen from FIG. 1, because a pair of side frames 20 are arranged in a manner such that they are simply welded to both left and right ends of a cowl dash panel 10, respectively, in the case that a head-on collision occurs at a point which is deviated from a center of a vehicle while the vehicle runs on the road, the side frame 20 is likely to be deformed. Therefore, as the side frame 20 which is deformed by the head-on collision is pushed toward a passenger compartment, injury potential to a passenger seated inside the passenger compartment cannot but be increased.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a side frame reinforcement structure for a vehicle, which increases rigidity of a connecting portion between a cowl dash panel and a side frame, thereby ensuring, upon collision, safety of a passenger seated inside a passenger compartment.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a side frame reinforcement structure for a vehicle, comprising: a reinforcing member bent in a multi-stepwise manner, the reinforcing member having a lower end which is welded onto an upper surface of a cowl dash panel adjacent an end of the cowl dash panel and an upper end which is welded to a side frame which in turn is welded to the end of the cowl dash panel, the reinforcing member cooperating with the cowl dash panel and the side frame thereby to define a closed space.